True Bread

April 8, 2008

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55-56

“[M]y Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” John 6:32-35

Piety

Jesus, you know that too often we hunger and thirst for things in life that are not true, not everlasting. Please forgive us for following our passions to the fleeting rush. For living in the momentary satisfies only our basic needs. Help us to live like Stephen, with both eyes fixed on you and eternity so that whatever pain and suffering we must endure will be far outweighed by the eternal happiness of being in union with you forever. Send you Holy Spirit to help us to go in peace to love and serve the world. Thanks be to you. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040808.shtml

If Stephen has the bread of eternal life, then why are the people able to stone him to death right in the presence of the Lord?

Eternal life is life with God. Stephen has achieved what he set out to accomplish for the Lord and now the Lord is opening a pathway directly back to Him for Stephen. Because Stephen is willing to suffer for the sake of God, he knows that he will achieve eternal life, not in this world, but in the world where he can be united with Christ.

The people are very fickle (we are, too!). In John’s Gospel, they profess to wanting the “bread of life” always. Yet just a few months later, they turn on Jesus and then they turn on his Apostles (like they did when they stoned Stephen). It is God who never changes. But we change all the time whenever it suits us or our public mood.

If in doubt, every day at Mass, everywhere in the world from the Vatican to Villanova, from Antwerp to Anacostia, the exact same promises of Christ are repeated in the celebration of the Mass. Yet our response is to not go, not participate, or not to take the commissioning at the end of Mass seriously. Go in peace to love and serve the world.

Stephen takes it so seriously that the people close their ears to the message of God. The choice is ours. Do we open our ears to the message or do we kill the messenger?

Action

Get out of your routine and attend daily Mass this week – especially if you don’t normally participate. Listen intently and pay special attention to the Eucharistic Prayer and the Rite of Dismissal. Remember that that rite is just a way to encourage us in our mission of action until we return to look upon Christ for strength and renewal at the Mass once again.